Achievement Guide for Dragonslayer

Achievement won on 15 Nov 09TA Score for this game: 2,184
Posted on 15 November 09 at 07:00, Edited on 15 November 09 at 07:04

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I'll try to make this short, but I can't promise anything hehe.

Tips for Nightmare Difficulty:

This really isn't that difficult if you have your AI set up correctly and/or you use the radial menu, you have a healer, a hex mage and a good tank. I used Leliana with ranged attack as my fourth character. Your healer doesn't even have to be a Spirit Healer, though Group Heal is nice to use right after a regular Heal if your tank gets low on health. If you just have Regenerate and Heal, you're golden. My characters were Lv13-14 and I had 3-5 levels of level up points to distribute, so it's really not that bad of a fight... I don't use the Level Up function until I have to so I don't get caught in a part of the game I cannot get through with certain abilities. Plus I was waiting on getting my second specialization for every member and I wanted to flood those specializations immediately. I don't even have any big-damage ability chains to help out here. If you do, by all means, use them.

First, set up the battlefield before you hit the Gong. Put your entire party on HOLD and position them individually. Set up all your sustained spells and get ready. I'm going to list my set up to give you sort of an idea how I did it. It's likely our party make up is not identical, so bear in mind you'll likely need to make some adjustments. The tank is the main focus of your positioning because it's crucial to keep High Dragon's abilities away from your other party members and make it so only the tank gets hit.

Tank:

As you look towards where High Dragon lands, place the tank to the left side of where High Dragon lands and get ready to Taunt. High Dragon can toss your tank around like a wet noodle, so putting him here keeps the cliff at your back and High Dragon can't throw you around and away from your party members or out of your healer's range. If your tank moves anywhere, it will be towards the Ruin Entrance which is fine because your other party members can still target High Dragon and the healer can heal the tank from the ledge above.

Threaten helps out a lot with threat as well, so activate it from the sustained spells menu on your radial menu if you have it. You should have this if you have a tank and if you have Threaten, then you have Precise Striking which will help with damage and threat as well because your tank hits more often and has a better chance to land crits: Less misses + more crits = more threat. Again, activate it if you have it.

Set up the tanks AI to use Shield Defense if their health drops below 50%. The reason to wait is because Shield Defense nerfs Attack and we don't want that unless we have to. Every once in a while, you should swap to your tank and Taunt again.

Use health items to help your healer out when you get lowe on health.

Also, any further into the ability string of the abilities I mentioned above will just make your fight easier. I am just trying to get you through with the bare minimum.

The rest of the party:

Your other three party members (if ranged) need to stay on the ledge where the Gong is to keep them out of the High Dragons AoE and cone abilities range. They can spam spells and ranged attacks from this ledge.

If one is melee and not ranged, try to keep them attacking from the side of High Dragon because it has a Tail Swipe ability (dunno the actual name) if you're behind it and it will knock you down and a good distance away from the fight. I never got hit with it from the side in 5 fights, but it could happen I suppose.

Hex Mage:

The hex spells from the Entropy school helps a lot here. Be sure to save your Misdirection Hex for when your tank ends up in the mouth of High Dragon or if your healer is low on mana and needs to drink a Lyrium Potion (or the mana Blood Magic spell you get from DLC). This will help alleviate some of the damage.

Alternate your Affliction Hex and Vulnerability Hex (this helps Drain as well if you find your self needing to heal after using the mana Blood Magic spell). Once you land one of your Hexes, spam your elemental spells (Lightning, Fire, Winter's Grasp, etc.). Those hexes lower the resistances of such spells and causes them to do more damage. It helps elemental based weapon enchantments and spells like Frost Weapon and Burning Weapon as well.

Healer Mage:

Not much to say here, keep Regenerate on your tank at all times. Don't wait for health to get low before using Heal. Use offensive spells to help with damage when you can, ESPECIALLY after a hex. If you're a Spirit Healer, then don't be afraid to use Group Heal immediately after Heal even if your other party members have full health (they should take very little damage if any).

Ranged/Melee member:

Leliana with the archery abilities would help a lot here. Ranger Spec, even better. I went the rogue route with her, so my ranged abilities are still default and they offer nothing to this fight. She is a decent archer with Marjolianne's bow (I know that spelled wrong, sorry). If you have elemental arrows (e.g., Ice Arrows), use them and your hexes will help those too.

Ending Comments:

This is a fairly long fight if you have to whittle away at High Dragon's health little by little like I did. Expect at least a 7-10 minute fight. Don't give up! If one thing doesn't work, try something else. Make sure your characters stay put by using using the HOLD function. Keep all threat on your tan, keep your tank healed and *DING!* Dragonslayer.

Good luck and hope this helps and sorry for the length...

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